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By Susan Bickelhaupt -- The Boston Globe -- May 4, 1993 -- Section: LIVING; Pg. 55 With the spontaneity of Jay Leno and the sarcasm of David Letterman, Conan O'Brien faced the flashbulbs and questions from a roomful of journalists yesterday, and he truly seemed to enjoy himself. It didn't seem to matter whether the queries were about his salary, his staff or his stature as new late-night talk master; O'Brien answered some questions and made jokes dripping with self-deprecation out of others. Like, will he keep the Letterman-signature Top 10 list when he takes over Letterman's late-night slot in August? "Yeah, we're going to have a top 30 list. My feeling is, the jokes won't be as good, but there'll be three times as many." Or, just how much money will he be making? "I held out for a lot of money - I made them pay $ 32 million," he deadpanned. "No, let's just say I'm going to have to get a day job. This is not a big money move for me; I don't want to get into the specifics because it's extremely embarrassing. Let's just say that NBC has bought me the only three suits that I now own." It was just a week ago that O'Brien, who grew up in Brookline and went to Harvard, was named Letterman's successor and was introduced to TV viewers by Leno on "The Tonight Show." Since then, the 30-year-old comedy writer ("The Simpsons," "Saturday Night Live") has been holed up in Los Angeles, letting his friends and family speak and not even letting his agent utter a word about O'Brien or his plans for a new late-night show. Until yesterday, when NBC executives introduced O'Brien and then stood on the sidelines, like proud parents watching a bar mitzvah. The Rainbow Room, on the 65th floor of the NBC building at Rockefeller Center, was jammed with more than 250 people - half of whom seemed to be photographers. In addition to the press, there were NBC execs, "handlers" surrounding O'Brien and a few "Saturday Night Live" cast members like Phil Hartman and Al Franken in the back of the room. Champagne was poured, and waiters in formal coats and bow ties passed around platters of shrimp, caviar and salmon. Not like Leno's press conference in January, when NBC announced he would continue as "Tonight Show" host; Leno came roaring into the room on a Harley Davidson. Or Letterman's press conference, where he lit up a cigar and calmly said, "Yes, I'm going to CBS." O'Brien's first meeting with the press had no precedent. He didn't know them, and they didn't know him - or what to expect of him. So imagine their surprise when he fielded questions with disarming aplomb, turning an offhand joke here and there, putting to rest any thought that this might be a new kid on the comedy block. He not only took questions from "Stuttering John" of the Howard Stern radio show, he encouraged them. The questioner who usually makes his subject squirm and turn red until he's bounced out of the room was just more material for O'Brien. "Have you had any homosexual experience?" asked Stuttering John. O'Brien, not missing a beat, said, "Not yet, but hey, life is moving so fast." He acknowledged that he's single, but danced around other questions about his personal life or girlfriend. Rumor has it that she's Lisa Cudrow, an occasional cast member on "Bob" and a regular on Kelsey Grammer's new show next fall. O'Brien laughed off the fact that he's been referred to as "relatively unknown." Incredulous that a questioner called him that, O'Brien's eyes widened as he said, " 'Relatively unknown'? Did you say 'relatively'? Sir, I am completely unknown." His life has changed a lot in one week, he admitted. "This news conference is slighly bigger than the ones I was having a month ago. . . . I'm now familiar with every bad picture of me ever taken . . . and I get recognized now, which is kind of weird - people say, 'Hey, you're that show guy,' or 'Hey, I know you, you're that minor talent.' " But O'Brien's not worried about his lack of fame, because he says he has the desire to make a new late-night show work. "You know, people think a comedy writer is some nerd with glasses behind a typewriter, and now he's got a show," he said. "But it's not quite that simple. I worked for a long time, I interact comedically with other people, I listen to them, I have some performing. I think I have some experience for this; I wasn't sure, but if I don't take chances I think I'd be blowing an opportunity." O'Brien said he hasn't given a lot of thought to the show's format, because, "let's face it, I found out about this job a week ago. And I'm 30 years old, and I'm not that bright, and it will take time to find this show." And he said, again tongue in cheek, that Casey Kasem would be a good first guest. "That's a lock now, that's why I'm so confident here today." He said it would be a talk show in the conventional format, but he wants to experiment. "But I don't want to be a cheesy David Letterman - I have great respect for him." In fact, O'Brien will meet face-to-face with Letterman on tonight's "Late Night" show, after an appearance on the "Today" show and before a taped appearance on CNBC's Tom Snyder show tomorrow. O'Brien, who graduated from Brookline High in 1981 and from Harvard in 1985, is not apt to lose his roots. He was sporting a fashionable dark-blue suit yesterday, but NBC's West Coast head of entertainment told a story about someone taking O'Brien shopping in New York. "But when he saw the price tag on an Armani suit," said Don Ohlmeyer, "he was shocked and said, 'I don't want to wear something that costs enough to drive.' " Copyright 1993 Globe Newspaper Company |